Monthly Night Sky information provided by Chris Vaughan (@Astrogeoguy) at Starry Night Education (@StarryNightEdu).
Several times a year near the moon’s first quarter phase, small clair-obscur effect features on the moon called the Lunar X and the Lunar V become visible in strong binoculars and backyard telescopes for a few hours. The Lunar X, a prominent X-shaped pattern, appears when the rims of the craters Purbach, la Caille, and […]
The moon will complete the first quarter of its orbit around Earth, measuring from the previous new moon, on Wednesday, July 2 at 3:30 p.m. EDT or 12:30 p.m. PDT, which converts to 19:30 GMT. The 90 degree angle formed by the Earth, sun, and moon at that time will cause us to see our […]
On Thursday, July 3 at 4:00 p.m. EDT, 1:00 p.m. PDT, or 20:00 GMT, Earth will reach aphelion, its greatest distance from the sun for this year. Aphelion’s 94.51 million miles (152.09 million km) distance is 1.67% farther from the sun than the mean Earth-sun separation of 92.96 million miles (149.6 million km), which is […]
After sunset on Thursday evening, July 3, Mercury (orbit shown in red) will stretch to its widest separation of 25.9 degrees east of the sun, and its maximum visibility, for its current apparition. This appearance of the planet will be reasonably good for both Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere observers. The optimal viewing time at […]
When the sky darkens after dusk on Thursday, July 3, Virgo’s brightest star Spica will appear just to the upper right of the waxing gibbous moon in the southwestern sky. Until they set after midnight, the duo will share the view in binoculars (orange circle). Observers viewing the pair later, or in more westerly time […]